The Nine Masks of Uzumaki Naruto
by DurielZamoran
Summary: Nine Masks. Nine Faces. Nine Lies.
1. Mask of Hope

~Mask of Hope~

"_I'm going to be Hokage! Dattebayo!"_

The phrase he was known for. That immediately identified him as Uzumaki Naruto. It was a great tool to deceive those around him. It was disarming, and most dangerous of all, it was contagious. It was like a virus that spread through their minds, until it almost become truth.

People started to 'see' truth in his words, and that he might actually achieve his goal. Other people admired his tenacity, and some even took him as a role model. He brought hope to the people of Konoha, because he had no desire to have hope for himself.

As Kakashi watched Naruto grin so hugely that his eyes were squinting he let out a sigh.

_His first mask is the flimsiest, but yet, the hardest to notice._

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A/N: Essentially, this is just a series of oneshots, based on the different layers of Naruto's mask.

There's nine, because it's cooler that way .


	2. Mask of Tears

~Mask of Tears~

Jiraiya was dead; Pein had killed him. Naruto felt the tears; stinging hot tears rise up in his eyes, shrouding them in moist sadness. Tsunade held out a hand, gripping his shoulder as they trickled down. Ero-sennin was dead. Jiraiya, the Gama-sennin, of the legendary Three Leaves… had died.

It just didn't seem to compute. Jiraiya couldn't die. Naruto shook with tears, and started laughing weakly. The laughter grew stronger but most people assumed it was shock. Shock and subsequent rejection.

They were wrong. One of Naruto's mask's were cracking. Breaking. Hairline fractures spreading through the stone wall of Tears. All of those years of pretending to be depressed, of pretending to cry over things were all crashing down. _Iruka being attacked by Mizuki. Little drops began to drip._

_His apartment getting ransacked. The clouds opened up to let rain fall._

_Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage's funeral. The sky itself seemed to cry._

Naruto had never really been sad. Now that Jiraiya was dead, he felt a pang of something he couldn't explain. So he laughed. He actually felt emotion.

_A Mask so strong and convincing, even the Heavens themselves cried with him._


	3. Mask of War

~Mask of War~

Serious and frostiness seemed to settle over Naruto's usually bright, exuberant face. Hands blurred through seals, launching jutsu's and letting shuriken sail. Hands clenched to fists and flat palms, lancing out and dealing death.

His face betrays nothing but pure icy determination. Fingers snap bone and nails gouge flesh and there is blood, so much blood. Yet still, nothing. No cry of agony as his arm is shorn to the bone, no scream of rage as Sakura is impaled on a kodachi. Not even a single blink, as metal scrapes away half of his hand.

Sai stands off to the said, and watches. Naruto's War mask is the most obvious, secured tightly in stone-etched features. Naruto has no fear, for he will not die. He has no pity, for he does not understand it.

_Nobody pities Naruto, because they don't think he needs it, but without pity, Naruto cannot comprehend it._

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A\N: Happy Easter.


	4. Mask of Pain

~Mask of Pain~

Sakura watched as Naruto's smile faded, and his eyes opened a bit, and she could see. Hurt. And it seemed to spill over into her, because all this time she was blind… all this time she never knew. _He never told._

And it hurt. Cut her like knives, sharper than any kunai, with edges so thin the skin just joined back together. Leaving nothing but pain… burning, hot, slicing pain…

Sakura knows she isn't the only one who knows. Gaara knows. Gaara knows because he understands Naruto as if he folded him together like an origami crane. Gaara knows, because he will understand Naruto better than she ever could. And that hurts. It cuts deep. Slices into her, and she swears it scrapes against bone. But she smiles, and waves at Naruto. And he knows. They know.

_Pain is a contagion, inflicting itself on others like spillage from an oil tank._


	5. Mask of Sloth

~Mask of Sloth~

He stares at him coldly… almost tiredly. He didn't shout, no proclamation of his promise, no war-cry as they moved to attack… nor did he attack with his usual fervour and vigour, deflecting Sasuke's attacks and almost lazily countering with his own flimsy retaliations. When Sasuke's Chidori Nagashi sliced into his shoulder, he barely mustered enough energy to mutter 'Ow' in place of a grunt or scream of pain, even as the lightning coursed through his body.

He doesn't so much as blink when his Rasengan slams into Sasuke's chest, scrambling his lungs and heart into a mess Tsunade will have trouble deciphering.

As the life fades from his eyes, Sasuke snarls, but Naruto punches him in the face and it's over.

Ino watches the battle finish while she wipes blood off her kunai and lets a sad smile cross her face. "Don't worry… it's over now." She whispers to him and he smiles weakly.

_Too tired to adhere to his ideals, to his promises… Ino sees that Naruto is simply tired of life._


	6. Mask of Hatred

~Mask of Hatred~

"_Naruto… the Yondaime… was your father." Naruto's face froze, his smile strangely hollow. "…"_

It should've been obvious. But everyone was so blind to the truth. Nobody noticed the painstaking similarities. Blonde hair…? Check. Blue eyes…? Check. Signed the Toad Contract…? _God damn fucking_ _Check_.

_Close your eyes, and sow them shut._

Same exuberant love of ramen…? Kakashi should've known that. Should've seen that. He should've _helped him!_ Little Naruto all alone, everyone so blind to his pain, so deaf to his screams… nobody came to help. Nobody wanted to _believe_, to _know_.

_Clap your ears and hear them pop._

Sandaime could've stopped them. He could've just released the knowledge, and let him live a happy life, albeit one under constant assassinations… he'd rather that, than one of constant oppression. Of ostracism… the pain of constant threat, was better then the pain of constant threat _and _constant hatred. At least the village would've loved him. _Fucking clan-loving bastards..._

_Bite your tongue, and cut it out._

Dear old Jiraiya. Dear, old, Godfather Jiraiya. _Godfather._ Fucking… _GODFATHER._

What kind of thing was Naruto supposed to say to that? Go down to his grave, say "Oh Hi, Ero-sennin. Thanks for not being there in, well, my entire god damn childhood. No hard feelings. _Really_." Sure, he had the spy network to maintain, perverted novels to write (They were good. They had plot. Plot filled with, but not revolving around, breasts) and et cetera, et cetera, but he could've at least visited. Once. Twice. He only stumbled against the aging ninja on coincidence. _Coincidence_. "Oh look! There's that godson I completely forgot even existed! Let's hope nobody knows about that, minus Tsunade! Not that she'd ever tell him, wandering drunkard she is!"

_Wish so hard that it would stop._

Tsunade watched from the Hokage's Crystal Ball as Naruto sat upon the Yondaime's head brooding darkly. There was a palpable aura of depression… but above that, stagnating hatred. Like a cloud, it hovered over them. A dark, red cloud. If only she had know… only she had realised that Jiraiya had forgotten. She knew all this time, but she thought Jiraiya had taken care of it. His student, not hers. She wanted to give herself a chakra-powered punch to the head.

_Blind and deaf to his suffering, and silent to his oppressors; hatred born of idealistic visions shatter the image of some of Konoha's greatest men in the eyes of a sacrifice…_

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A\N: Well, uh... this one is certainly larger than the others. To be honest, I don't really know why; it just kind of stole my idea, ran away with it and refused to give it back until it was done.

Good end result though. The little divider segments are actually part of some weird poem-thingy I started thinking of during my Life Skills class (Also known the biggest bludge of all humanity).


	7. Mask of Justice

~Mask of Justice~

_People always said Naruto had a strong sense of justice. They didn't know how right they were. _

It was brutal. At least twenty people brutally attacked with bottles, axes, hammers, and a variety of other easily attainable items. The bodies scattered over the warehouse a dock worker discovered them in; their blood had been used to write a message on the wall. '_One is Many and Many shall become One._'

The second murder was a relatively old lady. She had been burned to death; tied to a stake, doused in gasoline, kerosene and a variety of other liquids that were even remotely flammable. The ash had been used to write the message this time. '_The Witch Hunt has reversed._'

Another man had been drowned. There were a pair of rusty weights, equally rusty chains wrapped around the body, and had only been found in a local lake after some divers found him. In his mouth, a plastic tube with a piece of paper with the words '_The Weight of Sin_' was safely tucked inside, nice and dry.

The last victim had been electrocuted to death. Wires strapped to his temples, and fired up with 20,000 volts. He never stood a chance. A small message was carved into his stomach. '_A Spark of Innocence snuffed by the Storm of Death'_.

The ANBU were stumped. They had no idea who the murderer might've been, but they knew it must be a shinobi in order for them to have evaded capture for this long. Tsunade had imposed a curfew in order to prevent more murders.

Hinata took a deep breath and knocked loudly on the door. A cheerful voice called from behind it. "It's not locked." Hinata twisted the knob almost nervously, and took a few steps in to face the house's occupant. Naruto was sprawled across his lounge, in nothing but a pair of orange boxers; Hinata was reminded of a well-fed cat… or fox.

"Hinata-chan, what can I do for you?" He said, eyes crinkling cheerfully.

Hinata sighed. "… Why…?" She said, tone almost disappointed. Naruto frowned.

"Why what…?" Hinata felt a stab of anger.

"Don't bullshit me Naruto. Why did you do it…?" Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"Hinata, I don't know what you're talking about. Even if I did, I haven't done much this last week, so I doubt it was me anyway." Naruto's face was stills smiling but it seemed somewhat hollow. Hinata gave him a piercing stare, before sighing and turning away.

"… Kiba-kun and I are getting married next week. He wants you to be the best man." Without waiting for an answer, Hinata strode out the door, barely catched Naruto's reply. "I'd be delighted."

_The Byakugan could see everything, but only one little girl knew where to look._


	8. Mask of Holes

~Mask of Holes~

Food. Naruto loved food. It wasn't just ramen, he ate everything and in large quantities. He stuffed his face with noodles, sandwiches, sushi, and meat, anything that he could reach when he was hungry. He liked ramen the best, though. Ichiraku Ramen.

It was always well-cooked, seasoned and the flavours blended well in his mouth. But that wasn't all it was to Naruto. It wasn't just delicious.

Chouji knows, because Chouji loves Ichiraku Ramen as much as Naruto does, not just because of the food, but because of the tender love in each bowl. Chouji knows that Naruto has tried to fill the empty void in his life with just about everything, and Ichiraku was the best fit. It didn't truly fill it though.

_With an empty void, Naruto tries to fill it with something that makes the hole seem smaller. Even if it's not by much._


	9. Mask of Truth

~Mask of Truth~

Naruto sits in his mindscape, crossing his legs and staring at his tenant blankly. Kyuubi stares back. "… **They're coming to kill you, you know.**" Naruto doesn't move.

"… Let them." Kyuubi sighed, closing gargantuan eyes. From the shadows, a clone of Naruto stepped forward, ears slightly pointed and eyes glowing red; sharp fangs poked out from his mouth and the whisker marks had been replaced with deep rents. The only piece of clothing he was wearing were a pair of worn jeans.

"What about your friends?" He inquired calmly, leaning forward onto the bars of the seal. Naruto gave him a blank look. Kyuubi sighed again. "… It's not healthy to be so emotionless. You're like those robotic Ne ANBU." Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"And why do you say that…?" For the third time in five minutes, Kyuubi sighed.

"Scratch that, you're _worse_." Naruto shrugged.

"So…?"

Kyuubi shook his head before a secretive grin took over. "You know what I think you need?" Naruto stared at him intently, seemingly interested in his statements. "You need to get laid." Naruto blinked at him. "Come on! It'll be fun! I'll do the seducing though, seeing as you have no tact whatsoever." Naruto blinked again. "So, do we have a deal…?"

"… You can. I don't really care." Kyuubi bit back a growl of frustration, before shrugging.

"… Fine. You don't know what your missing out on then." '_Stupid gaki…_'

_Empty, hollow… a life of wearing masks to disguise how he feels has left Naruto with no feelings left to disguise._

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A\N: In the end, don't all of us wear masks...?

We don't tell people we hate them, because it's rude. We pretend to enjoy things, because other people enjoy them (And sometimes, they pretend to because you are, forming a weird circle).

But how many times do you _really _express yourself? How many times do you take off the Mask?

A Mask is just like make-up. At first, it feels weird. Later on, you can barely imagine yourself _without_ it. How many women don't go out unless they wear make-up because they don't feel as 'pretty' or as 'beautiful' without it?

Has the Mask become _you_? Has it become you're identity?

An honest question. Although now I feel like doing one for Sakura or Ino, but base the different layers on the different layers of make-up .


End file.
